St. Clare of Assisi

http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintc03.htm

I just found the strangest thing – St. Clare of Assisi’s memorial day (and date of her death) is August 11, Mackenzie CLARE Raymond’s birthday! How interesting is that?

I googled it because I was explaining Mackenzie's middle name to Phil, my father in the law the other day. I think he's the only person who has gotten the entire explanation of why I chose Clare and the spelling.

I lost both of my grandmother's last year - my favorite Dorothy Louise Smith in January and my other one Clara Louise Carlton on November 5, the day before Phil left for Iraq. 2 weeks after Phil left, we found out we were expecting and I just knew deep down that we would have a little girl. I pinpointed what I thought to be the moment of conception (ironically, probably after Phil left, so I knew X chromosome sperm live longer).

Anyway, I loved my Grandma Dorothy (but didn't have much of a relationship with the other one) that I wanted to honor her in some way. But Dorothy, Dottie, Dotty Lou? I just couldn't make it work. So I thought about the timing of Grandma In the Mountains (Clara)'s passing. I didn't really want to name the child after that Grandma, since she was less than nice to us as we were growing up - even though I think Clara is a pretty name. I still couldn't do much with Louise (Sorry Marlene Louise).

I decided that naming our child Clare would honor both of my grandmothers. Afterall, Dorothy insisted that I see Clara every time I came to Fresno, even when I didn't want to. And she would go with me when she was able.

The choosing of Mackenzie wasn't quite as well thought out. I told Phil that I wanted to name the child Clare. He said he loved it and since we had the French side covered, we needed something Irish to go along with it. So I gave him a list of about 3 Irish girl's names that I liked and we never got past Mackenzie. He really liked that one, so we kept it. Initially she was going to be Clare Mackenzie, but about 7 months pregnant, I switched it.

Mackenzie means "daughter of a wise leader" and Clare (according to the link above) means "bright or brilliant" and our last name means "protecting hands".